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Friday, 7 February 2014

On the Edge of Danger - the continuing Jo Naylor story

Jo Naylor's adventure began with The Shattered Figurine Feb/2013- then Near Death in Oct/2013, it continues...

On the Edge of Danger

Inspector
Murdoch Maloney feels sorry for Jo Naylor. He tries to imagine the fear she
must’ve experienced with a garrotte tightening around her neck less than eight
hours ago. He doesn’t need to see the red mark. The black turtleneck she wears
under her jacket covers it well. He’s faced dangerous people enough times in
his life to know how nerve wracking it is to come close to death. He admits to
himself that the ordeal over her father last year can be overwhelming also but
he didn’t get to be Inspector by being a candy ass. He just finished ragging
her and her partner Adam out big time, especially Naylor. This was the second
time she had ventured into a potentially dangerous situation on her own. She
had just come from a check up at the hospital.

After his
last remark of how close she came to dying, the small office became quiet. The computer tower under his desk hums in the
silence. The noises from the outer offices, chatter, phones ringing, chairs
creaking, are mostly muffled by the closed door behind the two detectives. Adam
Thorne is sitting on the left facing his superior’s desk, the chair closest to
the exit. Naylor is to the right.Thorne
has his elbows on the armrests of the chair, his fingers steepled. He’s gazing
at his knees, unfocused, chewing on his inner lip in concentration. He’s only
been a constable detective two weeks short of a year, he knows when to keep his mouth
shut. Maloney chews everybody out, a tough old bastard.

Naylor is
looking her boss in the eyes; she catches the glimmer of compassion in them,
contrary to the firm set in his jaw.Hoping he sees the determination in hers, she holds his gaze until he
says,

“Get outta here;
go find that man that did this to you Naylor. Watch her back Thorne!”

Their chairs
scrape across the hardwood floor in quick response as the two hasten from the
office, faster than twelve year olds when school’s out. Through the door before
the Inspector can even remind them to close it as they leave, Naylor is two
steps ahead of her partner almost at a jog saying,

“What were
you able to dig up on Dunsmore?”

The admin staff and another detective are in
the outer office, a cluttered area, fashioned in ‘institutional dull’. New and
old desks, computer stations, a work table form islands that the pair weave amongst
as they head for the front door. Thorne digs a leather bound note pad from the
inside pocket of his sport coat while saying,

“He is...or
was...living in a rooming house downtown off east main. Twenty one years ago,
Dunsmore worked for your father at the prison, the parting was not sweet.”

Thorne
almost bumps into her as she abruptly stops to face him. Her auburn ponytail
swings from her cocked head as she says,

“Is that
so?”

Thorne backs
off a step as she mulls this over.

“There seems
to be lot about your father you don’t know.”

“Well,
certainly nothing about his work. It stayed there.”

A few
seconds go by and she waves him along.

“That’s
interesting Adam. You’ve been busy. Tell me the rest as we head to the rooming
house you mentioned.”

Back into a
trot again, Naylor heads for their car in the side parking lot as she listens
to Thorne’s narrative. He’s walking as if he’s in a marathon trying to keep up,
glancing at his notes, relating what he’s discovered in the last four hours. A
few clouds bunch up here and there in the mainly clear sky but it’s still cool
enough this spring day to lightly see his breathe. Several other cars are
leaving and the air smells like exhaust.

A Crown
Victoria, cop grey, waits for them at the rear of the lot. The car looks
police; they don’t. Naylor’s tall for a lady, her workouts keep her buff. The
women that she works with enviously nicknamed her “Shape”. The guys might think
it but they know better than to say it. Her dark jeans, the black sweater, the
short grey jacket fit her loosely yet define her pleasing curves.She moves fluidly like a gymnast, she kicks like
a double barrelled 12 gauge.

Thorne looks
like he’s going to a photo shoot. Black slacks, open necked black dress shirt,
grey sharkskin sport coat, shiny shoes, a black hankie artfully tucked into the
outer breast pocket makes him trendy and serious. He’s an inch shorter than Jo,
wider and just as lean, maybe a little too thin for his muscled frame. He’s
wears a happy grin most of the time, seemingly pleased with his life. Eager to
be a good detective, he’s attentive and works far too hard.

They’re
climbing in the car as Thorne says, “He just got out of jail about six months
ago after doing time for aggravated assault. He almost killed his victim he
beat her so bad.”

Naylor is
backing the car out from the painted lines.

“When was
this, the assault?”

“It’ll be
four years ago this autumn.”

While she
waits for a gap in the traffic to head east, they eyeball each other, the date
is significant. Naylor says what they both know,

“That’s must
be just after his daughter died.”

Thorne is
nodding his head. He knows she’s thinking of her father right now. “Yeah it
was.”

“Who did he
assault?”

“His wife.”

“Oh shit!”

Naylor sees
a gap in the traffic, a kind civilian giving her the right-of-way waves her on.
She does something else Maloney doesn’t like. She floors the grey whale and it
tears out of the lot. The back wheels chirp for fifteen seconds as the black
rubber scars the concrete driveway of the police station and a foot or so of
Robinson Avenue as she speeds out into the flow of traffic. Even though they
don’t have a light flashing, her haste is evident to the other motorist’s and
they make room for the cop car to pass them. The rooming house is across town,
maybe fifteen minutes. She can flip the siren for a few lights, so maybe ten
minutes. Thorne is holding his note book in his left hand; his right holds the
overhead safety strap He’s too nervous to watch the road when she’s in a hurry,
so he stares at the lines of his neat script as he relays the details.

Eleven
minutes later they turn off east Main onto Blueberry St. and pull up on the
wrong side in front of a tall narrow house, two floors and a tall attic. The
siding is wide Masonite, popular in the seventies, dark brown paint making the
house overly serious. Paint peels around the edges of the dirty windows and top of
the front entry. A dingy white aluminum door with a torn screen hangs open; the
bottom hinge is wobbly as if only one screw holds it.

It’s the
first building on the left, just after a half empty car lot called ‘Jonahs
Pre-owned Autos’ where used vehicles are shuffled about by the owner and single
salesperson, Gaspar Jonah, a man known for his dishonesty and wide colourful
ties.

He’s in the lot now clapping some young man on the back but stops his
spiel when he sees Naylor and Thorne pull up to the building next door. He
knows this ‘ghost car’. He knows the coppers by reputation. He means to talk to
them about the big man he saw checking out the cars last night just after he
closed. He was going to go out and inquire if the man was interested but when
he saw how big he was, how menacing the heavy brows were, the face shaded in
the yard lights, he lost interest, was scared actually. He’ll sell this naive
lad a car first, and then go talk to them.

As the
detectives get out of the car Thorne is saying,

“...so he
trashed your old man’s office, beat up one of the office clerks. He was
physically restrained and arrested. He spent three nights in jail until the
charges were dropped. I didn’t have time to find out why.”

Naylor is
standing on the fractured sidewalk facing the front of the house. There is a
four foot uncut lawn, two cracked concrete squares for a path to the front
stoop which is weathered but the two steps are new, rough cut but the wood is recent. A
dirt driveway runs to the right. Her ponytail swings as she surveys the
structure. Her nose is scrunched from the smell of old tires piled at the end
of the driveway, cooking in the sun.

“How do you
know this Adam? I never heard any of this at home.”

“Well, like
you said, he never brought his work home. I bet there was always some weird
crap going on in a prison. Anyway, my Dad is a regular at the curling club up
on Lutz Street and George Zawacki is on the same team, has been for many years.
Mr Zawacki is the...”

“Yeah, yeah
I know who Zawacki is, took over the warden’s job.”

“That’s the
one. It was quicker this way than through our office channels. So he let me dig
through some of the files, I talked to one of the older guards, he remembered
the incident.”

Naylor is
not saying anything. She stares at the bent front door although it is faint and
blurry in her vision. She is oddly struck with a memory of the story of the
Dunsmore girl, front page of the daily. She feels a terrific hurt in her heart
for the pain her father wrought. Naylor has her hands on her hips when she
turns to face her partner. The dark eyes are shiny and sad. Her lips are
upturned as she concentrates trying to keep her emotions in check before she
speaks. She doesn’t know if she can keep doing this, maybe she’s too close.
She’s suddenly scared. Her voice is tiny, just above a whisper.

“Then
seventeen years later, my father kills Dunsmore’s daughter. Now Dunsmore is trying to
kill me.”

To be continued...........Next Friday is Valentines Day, read about Love in its many shapes and forms of expression.

February 21st, please be here to read a witty short story called Kennyisms from Lockie Young, his second appearance as a guest writer. Feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for visiting the South Branch Scribbler

Today only - February 11 - Dark Side of a Promise is available fo $2.99 at amazon.com

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SHORTS Vol.1

The Ship Breakers - Breaking gigantic ships by hand is dangerous and gruelling work. Many workers are children. The wages are low. ( This story received Honorable Mention in the WFNB's short story competition) Lloyd and the Baby - A bachelor finds an abandoned baby. What does he do with it? The Shattered Figurine - Detective Josephine (Jo) Naylor is told where to find the next body with a plea to help the killer stop this madness. The Two Grumpy Old Man Cafe - The meals are delicious, the atmosphere perfect and the insults are free. Available at Amazon. Please CLICK on the book cover.

SHORTS Vol.2

Five engaging short stories that will keep you wanting more by this author. *Four Boxes of Memories – Lloyd Minister moves to a nursing home with his most important possessions and he can’t take everything with him. *Reaching the Pinnacle - Grandfather and granddaughter hike the highest mountain in their province. Around the campfire, the young lady has something important to tell her Gramps. *Pioneers in a Hurry - A fond recollection of three grown men acting like boys on an all-night camping trip. Being mischievous comes naturally. *Near Dead - Detective Jo Naylor finds herself in the dark. She’s not alone. Someone wants her dead. *Six Jutlands and a Conestoga - The Verhoeven family have everything they own in a wagon, children and all. The mysterious west beckons. Available at Amazon. Please click on the book cover.

SHORTS Vol.3

Letting Go - a son deals with his deceased father's "boxes of memories". One Bedroom Ark - Noah Coyne owns a convenience story, the last customer of the night will change his life. Two Boys, One Wagon and a Secret - In the 50's, a young boy's pride was a red wagon. What do they discover one day when they are out filling it up with returnables? No Dying Today - Det. Jo Naylor and her partner search for the man that tried to kill her last night. The Food Bank - some people have too much food, others not enough.Available at Amazon. Please CLICK on the book cover.

Blooger's Award.

Thank you Susan Toy.

Family and Friends.

Nieces Pam Cottrell and Jackie Beers

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What's New?

Please check out the new Detective Jo Naylor serialization on the Page bar above. New additions coming soon. Follow the story here on the Scribbler.

Paperback copies of Dark Side of a Promise are available at Chapters - Regent Mall, Fredericton, NB. Cover to Cover in Riverview, NB. And from the Author.

Allan Hudson

About Me

My mother taught me to read, to like books, when I was very young. She also taught me how to write. I grew up in the country, even went to a one-room school which was right across the road from our house. She was the teacher. The days I missed were few. I enjoy reading and some of my favorite authors are Bryce Courtenay, Beth Powning, Dennis LeHane, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cara Brookins, Susan Toy, Jason Lawson, Lockie Young, Chuck Bowie, Harlan Coben, Leon Uris and Herman Wouk.Writing is so much fun and even though I started later in life, I am so happy to realize my dream. Having this blog so I can share other people's work gives me great pleasure.

I've had many adventures in my life. I've travelled throughout North America, gone skydiving, rock climbing, wilderness camping. I craft stained glass and I enjoy woodworking. I'm blessed with many good friends. I live in the seaside community of Cocagne, New Brunswick, Canada. My wife's name is Gloria. My son's name is Adam and my stepsons' names are Christopher (Mireille) and Mark (Nathalie) Young. My grandchildren are Matthieu, Natasha and Damien. I love them all.Thank you for visiting. I hope you enjoy my blog. You can reach me by leaving a comment and/or your email address below and I'll respond.

A new Drake Alexander novel

Coming soon...

The Douglas Kyle Memorial Award for Fiction

My story - The Ship Breakers - received Honorable Mention in the Douglas Kyle Memorial awards for New Brunswick Writers Federation's short story category. It's featured in SHORTS Vol.1

The Dark Side of a Promise

Dark Side of a Promise is an edgy, international thriller. A tale of Revenge! Drake Alexander follows the trail of one of the world’s deadliest men which leads him to the unlikeliest locations – Bangladesh, the country of rivers. Bartolo Rizzato murdered his best friend’s sister. Why is he in Asia? It can only be to steal or kill! When Alexander finds him, will he deliver on his promise? (Go to comment box in Novel section above to see what one reader says about the novel) Only $4.99 from Amazon. Please CLICK on the book cover.